Seda last name popularity, history, and meaning

Find out how popular the last name Seda is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Seda.

Meaning of Seda

A Spanish surname derived from the word "seda," meaning "silk," likely referring to a silk merchant or worker.

Seda, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Seda surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Seda in America

Seda is the 10186th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Seda surname appeared 3,164 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Seda.

We can also compare 2010 data for Seda to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

2010 2000 Change (%)
Rank 10186 10887 -6.65%
Count 3,164 2,684 16.42%
Proportion per 100k 1.07 0.99 7.77%

The history of the last name Seda

The surname SEDA has its origins in the regions of northern Spain and southern France. It is believed to have derived from the Latin word 'seta', meaning bristle or coarse hair, which was initially used as a descriptive nickname for someone with particularly coarse or unkempt hair.

The earliest recorded instances of the name SEDA can be traced back to the 12th century in various medieval documents from the Basque Country and Navarre. One notable example is found in the Cartulario de San Millán de la Cogolla, a collection of charters and deeds from the Monastery of San Millán de la Cogolla, which mentions a certain Sancho Seda in the year 1187.

By the 13th century, the name had spread to other parts of Spain and the Iberian Peninsula. In the Libro de la Montería, a hunting manuscript commissioned by King Alfonso XI of Castile in 1342, there are references to places called Seda and Sedano, which may have been named after individuals with the surname SEDA.

One of the earliest known bearers of the surname SEDA was Martín Seda, a Spanish soldier who participated in the conquest of Mexico alongside Hernán Cortés in the early 16th century. Another notable figure was Hernando de Seda, a Spanish navigator and explorer who accompanied Francisco Pizarro on his expeditions to Peru in the 1530s.

In the 17th century, the name SEDA gained prominence in the region of Catalonia, where several individuals with this surname held important positions in the local government and military. One such person was Josep Seda, a Catalan military officer who fought against the French in the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714).

During the 18th and 19th centuries, the SEDA surname spread to other parts of Europe and the Americas, carried by Spanish and Basque immigrants. One notable bearer of this name was José Seda y Barceló (1811-1876), a Spanish politician and writer who served as the Mayor of Madrid from 1868 to 1869.

Other historical figures with the surname SEDA include Jesús María Seda (1859-1936), a Cuban lawyer and politician who served as the President of the House of Representatives of Cuba, and José Seda y Gandía (1878-1910), a Puerto Rican writer and journalist who played a significant role in the island's literary renaissance.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Seda

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Seda.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

  1. White only
  2. Black only
  3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
  4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
  5. Hispanic
  6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Seda was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 16.31% 516
Non-Hispanic Black Only 2.72% 86
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only 1.55% 49
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.25% 8
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 0.47% 15
Hispanic Origin 78.70% 2,490

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Seda has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 16.31% 17.96% -9.63%
Black 2.72% 2.42% 11.67%
Asian and Pacific Islander 1.55% 0.89% 54.10%
American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.25% 0.19% 27.27%
Two or More Races 0.47% 0.75% -45.90%
Hispanic 78.70% 77.79% 1.16%

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Seda was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Seda, please contact us.

Reference this page

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If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!

"Seda last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on July 27, 2024. http://namecensus.com/last-names/seda-surname-popularity/.

"Seda last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/seda-surname-popularity/. Accessed 27 July, 2024

Seda last name popularity, history, and meaning. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from http://namecensus.com/last-names/seda-surname-popularity/.

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